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Sally Murphy, Australian author

Hot Link – Writing Advice NOT to Miss

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Whilst there are lots of articles and blog posts which I can reproduce here, there is also lots and lots of wonderful advice on other writers’ blogs and websites which, if you are serious about writing for children, is well worth reading. So, from time to time, I’ll share a hot link with you – a link to an article or blog post that offers wonderful insight into one or more aspect of writing for children’s.

Today’s hot link is to an article by the wonderful Jackie French, author of gazillions of wonderful children’s books (from picture book to young adult). Her article Writing for Kids is a wonderful look at the basics of writing for children – including an examination of WHY you might want tow rite for children.

Check it out here.

Guest Article: Classifying Children’s Fiction, by Robyn Opie

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Classifying Children’s Fiction
by Robyn Opie

Simply put, a book is usually classified as children’s fiction if the main character is a child.

Adults usually read about adults. Children usually read about children.

When reading a book, the reader likes to connect with or relate to the main character. A reader likes to identify with the character and even romanticize that they are the hero/heroine. This is why authors spend a lot of time trying to create believable, sympathetic characters.

When I was a teenager, I wanted to be Nancy Drew. In fact, I still wouldn’t mind being Nancy Drew. She has so many fun adventures.

What is the age of your main character or characters? Let’s say they are 14. How many adults do you know who are interested in reading a story about the problems of a 14 year old? None, I’d guess – unless you happen to know a children’s author. Therefore the audience for a book about a 14 year old is most likely children between the ages of 10 and 14.

So, a book is children’s fiction if the main character is a child and the reading audience is made up of children.

Now, to take this further, children like to read about children solving their own problems.

From an early age, most children seek their independence, in small ways when they are very young to bigger assertions as they mature. If you’re a parent you’ll know what I mean about children pushing their boundaries. I remember pushing my boundaries. I remember them moving. And I remember them snapping back, like a rubber band. Ouch!

Children rebel against what they perceive as unfair restrictions. They don’t want to read about these same restrictions in children’s books. Who does? Remember, most people read to escape reality – every day life. The same is true of children.

In children’s fiction, children like to read about children solving their own problems with only minor assistance from adults or better still, no assistance from adults. In fact, it is quite common in children’s fiction for adults to be absent. A good way to explain these absences is having parents go off to work. At the very least, adults are kept in the background. They are minor characters. When writing for children you need to consider the roles of parents, keep them realistic, but unobtrusive.

For example, I am currently writing a novel about two brothers who solve a crime. Their father is dead. He died in a car accident. Their mother is a nurse who is working night shift. She is gone at night and sleeps during the day. This allows the boys to discover the crime and expose the criminals, thus enabling the police to catch them.

In reality, the boys cannot catch the criminals and take them to prison but they can discover the identities of the criminals and make it possible for the police to catch them. The adult assistance is minimal, therefore satisfying the young reader, and the boys have an adventure that fits within the realms of credibility.

It isn’t always easy when writing for children to find a way for main characters to solve their own problems with a minimum of adult interference. The answer isn’t always obvious. But you need to construct the plot so that this is possible and the solution must seem plausible given the limited experience and restrictions of your target audience. If you can’t find a way for your main character to solve their problem then move on to another story. You can always go back to the other one
later.

A few years ago, I had a conversation with a specialist children’s publisher about this very subject. They rejected my story because the main character hadn’t solved her problem. It had happened by accident.

There’s another reason why the main character needs to solve their problem; our main character is supposed to learn and grow from his/her experiences. This is part of the satisfaction a reader gains from reading your children’s book. If the main character doesn’t solve their problem then how do they learn and grow?

The subject matter of a children’s book must be something that children can relate to given their limited experience. Your story must be interesting to a child.

© Copyright Robyn Opie. All Rights Reserved.

Guest Article: How to Find a Publisher

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You’ve written your book, but now where do you send it? Robyn Opie’s article is full of good advice.

How to Find a Publisher
by Robyn Opie

I frequently receive emails from people writing for children, who ask me to recommend a publisher or publishers. It seems like a simple question.

Ah, if only life were so simple

The problem with most of these emails is that the author neglects to include pertinent details:

a) What they’ve written – novel, article, short story etc

b) The genre – horror, romance, thriller etc

c) Fiction or non-fiction

d) Length

e) And in the case of children’s fiction, whether it’s a picture book, easy reader, chapter book etc

f) Where the author lives

But, even with these details, I’m not in a position to recommend publishers.

I provide FREE information on my wesbite to help people writing for children. I provide FREE advice on how to get your children’s book or books published. So why don’t I recommend publishers?

Simply put, because the author of a book is the best person to find a publisher.

The author of a book knows that book better than anyone.

With little knowledge of the book, I can only guess about suitable publishers.

What if I guess wrongly? After all, I really don’t know anything about the book in question. I could be giving you bad advice. And, trust me when I say, the last thing I want to do is give you bad advice.

I could be wasting your time. I could be costing you money.

So if I recommend publishers to you then I’m not really being fair to you. I’m not necessarily giving you and your book the best chance in the market place.

Only you can do that, or a good agent if you have one.

Now this doesn’t mean that I want you to send me your manuscripts to read so I can learn more about your children’s story. It doesn’t mean that I want you to send me a synopsis of your novel.

It means that you, as the writer and manager of your career, are in the best position to find a suitable publisher. You know your children’s book. You know what you want from a publisher and your career. You know what matters to you.

What I can do, though, is give you advice on how to find a publisher or publishers.

So here’s some more FREE advice to help you with your writing career.

1) Write your book.

When you’re starting out in your career of writing for children, publishers want to see a finished product, or at least part of a finished product. They want to know that you’re capable of writing the whole novel. So before you approach a publisher or, even research the market, write your children’s novel.

2) Research the market.

First you need to know what sort of book you’ve written. Who is your reader? Males? Females? Both? What is the age of your audience? Is your book genre fiction? What genre? What about the length?

Visit local bookstores and look for children’s books similar to your own in length and genre. You’ll find the publisher’s information easily, both on the cover and inside the book. Write down a list of the publishers you find that might be interested in work similar to your own.

3) Research the publishers.

I own a copy of The Australian Writer’s Marketplace. You can buy Writer’s Marketplace reference books for other countries as well, including the US and UK. You’ll find details of many publishers in this reference resource. These details include their address, phone number, email address, website and submission requirements.

The Internet has made finding publishers a much easier task. If a publisher has a website, and most of them do, then visit the website. Research what they are publishing. And look for submission information. Firstly, do they accept unsolicited manuscripts? Your manuscript is unsolicited if a publisher or editor hasn’t requested to read it. In other words, your manuscript is unsolicited if you’re sending it to a publisher without their prior knowledge.

A lot of publishers include submission guidelines on their websites, which can be downloaded with a minimum of fuss. Always read a publisher’s guidelines and always follow their instructions. Give your manuscript the best chance. If guidelines aren’t readily available on a publisher’s website, then send them a polite and professional email asking for a copy of their guidelines.

The reason you conduct research on publishers before you submit a manuscript is to save you time and money. There’s no point sending your horror novel to a publisher that only publishes romance novels. There’s no point sending your children’s picture book to a publisher that doesn’t publish children’s books or picture books. There’s no point sending your unsolicited manuscript to a publisher that doesn’t accept unsolicited manuscripts.

4) Be professional

When you deal with publishers or anyone associated with the publishing industry it pays to always be polite, friendly and professional. Publishers are looking for writers who can produce great novels and conduct themselves professionally. This includes submitting your work in a professional manner. A neatly formatted manuscript, accompanied by a well-written query letter will be more readily accepted than a hand-written, unedited story!

5) Be Realistic

Biggest does not equal best! Almost every writer wants to see his or her own book up there on the New York Times Best Seller lists. But aiming your book at the biggest name publishing house you can locate is not always realistic – nor is it always the best possible publishing home for your precious work. In many cases, a smaller, more specialised publisher might have a better chance of placing your book in front of the right readers for your particular genre.

6) Research again!

Just because you may have found the name of a publisher willing to publish a book similar to your own does not necessarily mean they are still accepting submissions! Keep a close eye on websites that list publishers actively seeking manuscripts. Some of these even list publishers who are no longer accepting submissions, so you’ll at least have some idea of where NOT to send your work.

Here are some links to help you find a publisher’s website:

http://home.vicnet.net.au/~ozlit/austpub.html
http://www.publishers.asn.au/links.cfm?doc_id=35
http://www.publishers.ca/CNM_Index.wws
http://www.lights.com/publisher/alphabetic.html
http://www.publishers.org/member/members.cfm
http://www.ukwebstart.com/listbookpubs.html
http://www.booktrust.org.uk/publishers/pubindex.htm

Naturally there are many more websites on publishers that you can find for yourself by searching the Internet.

You are in the driver’s seat of your writing career. Take control and target your submissions to the best of your ability. And that means researching the market and researching publishers.

© Copyright Robyn Opie. All Rights Reserved.

Guest Article: How to Make Sure Your Manuscript Submission is Up to Snuff, by Mervyn Love

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More useful advice in the form of another reprint article. Enjoy!
Sally

Send in a sloppy, grubby manuscript and your chances of rejection are greatly increased. Send in a smart, clean, tidy manuscript and the publishers offices will ring with the cry – “Hey, here’s someone who knows how to do it properly! Break out the Champagne! Bring on the dancing girls!’ But maybe not the latter if it’s a Monday.

Publishers are inundated with manuscripts. In most cases they are unsolicited. They didn’t ask for them, they just arrived in a flurry of dust laden wings like angels of doom. Problem: which to read first. Ah, here’s one that’s half decent. It’s clean and tidy and looks pleasant enough to read. Let’s give this a try.

The point is this: if you please the editor with a first class, well presented offering then your stock will go up faster than the price of oil and you’ll have a head start against the other losers.

So let’s get down to it. How can you impress the editor or publisher with the presentation of your manuscript?

1. Use double spacing and print or type on one side of the paper only.

2. Put the title of the work only (not your name or any other fascinating information) at the top of every page. This helps if the person reading your novel drops them all over the floor along with someone else’s.

3. Number the pages at the bottom. This is an absolute must because if the person reading your work drops them all over the floor (what again?) he/she will know how to cobble them back together again. For a novel number the pages straight through. Don’t start afresh at the start of a new chapter. If you put each chapter into a separate document and you’re using Word, click on the link below and go to the ‘Writers Questions’ page if you want to know how to do this.

4. Use a cover sheet which should give: the Title of the work; your name and pseudonym if you use one, address and telephone number, plus an email address if you have one. Also give the number of words, usually to the nearest 1,000 for a novel or 100 if a short story. Finally add the date.

5. Staples are anathema as are any method of binding the pages. Publishers do not like going around with broken finger nails, especially the ladies. You will definitely lose brownie points if you don’t adhere strictly to this rule. You have been warned.

6. Enclose a brief (that is to say – brief) covering letter.

7. Keep a backup copy of your work on a CD-ROM, a memory stick or some other device so that you don’t lose it through computer breakdowns. And if you are using one of those. er, now what are they called, oh yes, typewriters make sure you get your manuscript photocopied before sending it off. Some publishers have, on very rae occasions you understand, been known to lose stuff.

Having said all this, here’s a word to the wise: get hold of your prospective publisher’s submission guidelines and follow them to the letter. Their requirements may differ from those I give above so treat them with respect. Remember publishers are gods and we wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of any thunderbolts for getting it wrongArticle Search, would we?

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mervyn Love offers a warm welcome and a stress free zone for all writers at his website: http://www.WritersReign.co.uk Here you can relax and browse pages of advice, resources, competition listing, markets and much more. His free Article Writing Course has proved extremely popular, so why not sign up now while you’re thinking about it? http://www.writersreign.co.uk/WRac.html

Juggling Hamsters

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My past few weeks have been even busier than usual. At a time when my creative juices are really flowing, it seems there are a million little demons determined to trip me up and keep me away from my keyboard or, when I’m at that keyboard, to ensure I’m busy doing anything other than writing creatively. But I’m a writer – and writing creatively is what I need to do. So I try try try (not always succeeding) to write something every day, if not on my work in progress, then something that comes to me. And, amidst that aforementioned business, I managed this past week to jot down a first draft of a new picture book manuscript, and draft three new poems, among other things.

One way I ensure that I keep writing is to always have a notebook with me. I don’t have a laptop, but a notebook and pen can be carried around and, when inspiration strikes I can grab a moment to jot my thoughts down. In between sessions on my school visit to Hyden, for example, I managed to write a hundred words or so of the picture book idea which had been tickling my awareness for a couple of days. This gave me the impetus to then sit down today and get it finished.

Anyway, I’ve come across an article which says so well what I’m trying to say about trying to make time for writing. Eugie Foster calls it ‘juggling hamsters’ and, although I’m not fond of hamsters (juggled or otherwise), the analogy and the tips the article contains are excellent. Have a read.

Happy Easter – and a New Read

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Happy Easter. I’m celebrating this wonderful feast of new life and joy for all by spending time at home with my beautiful family. Lots of chocolate has been eaten, and everyone’s feeling good. What better way to celebrate ANYTHING than by eating chocolate.

In between chocolate and joy I’ve managed to read a book, which I started yesterday and finished today – Claiming the Courtesan, by Anna Campbell.Claiming the Courtesan

It’s a regency romance with lots of tempest and passion and dark brooding heroes and the like. Quite a departure form my usual reads, which focus mainly on children’s and young adult titles. And, though kids’ books are my favourites, I’ve really enjoyed the change. I don’t remember when I last read a historical romance, but it is a genre I confess to enjoying. I also find I read such books as a reader much more than I perhaps do when reading children’s books, where I often read as a writer or a parent or a teacher. So, reading Courtesan was a little like a holiday for me.

If you are a writer, do you only read in your chosen genre? Or do you take the time to read other genres from time to time? When was the last time you read a romance, a thriller, a detective novel? It’s a good thing to do, reading outside your area, even if only to remind you that you can read just for the pleasure of it. No need to be studying the market, no need to be wondering if you can use that technique, or if you would have treated that scene that way, or nay of the other writer questions we tend to ask ourselves as we read. At the same time, you might find you DO learn something from reading outside your area. It might be that you observe some cleverly constructed dialogue, some interesting use of viewpoint or similar, or even that you glean some useful information about a region, a time period or whatever.

Back to Courtesan. I enjoyed it, and am looking forward to reading Campbell’s next novel, which is further down my review pile. If you are a fan of romance at all, I can thoroughly recommend this one.

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